Jorge H. Pinzón C.

I am an Evolutionary Ecologist. My main research interest is the diversification and interactions between species. I study scleractinian coral to answer three main questions: 1) how are corals prepared and respond to biological and environmental stressors? 2) What are the boundaries between coral species? and 3) what is the influence of the coral-algae relationship on speciation events?

Scleractinian corals are the ideal for evolutionary ecology studies. Corals are diverse in species, morphologies and ecological niches, and form some of the most complex and diverse ecosystems on earth. In addition, these organisms and the systems they build, are highly sensitive to climate change. The combination of all these characteristics allows the design, development and implementation of several scientific endeavors addressed to answer questions about the evolution and function of life forms.

Currently I am combining next generation sequencing, biochemical assays and ecological and biological observations to determine the relation between variability levels of both non-induced and induce immunity and genetic composition of corals.